DigaPixBlog

One of the benefits of macro photography is the ability to see what we ordinarily pass by without being aware of every day.  They let see how the world works.  This is very important in documenting a subject for educational and scientific purposes.

This photograph of a spider at work has excellent detail and depth of field.  The viewer can see every hair and fiber of this arachnid and its web.  The lighting, thou not dramatic, captures every detail.  The photographer’s selection of the graduated gray background is dark enough to allow the fibers of the web to standout in every detail.

This would be a prefect image to be included in a scientific journal or text book.  I can see this shot in ‘National Geographic’. The execution of this documentary image is excellent and brings the subject to life.

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Composition is the relationship of graphic elements within a scene.  These can be geometric shapes and how they relate to each other, lines and how they intersect the layout or color rudiments and their comparability. 

This composition has an interesting diagonal line running from top to bottom along a sixty degree angle.  On this line rests the subject, a water drop about to run down this surface.  I find the way the blade of grass divides the frame interesting.  It is placed in such a way that the area of the background to the left and right are of equal size.  This gives a stationary feeling to the graphic.

In this image the focus in nicely placed on the subject with the background soft, however I do feel that perhaps the bright green to the left of the foreground is a little distracting.

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When photographing we generally try to get the best example of the subject as possible.  This means if we are photographing flowers we don’t want any wilted of damaged examples in the frame.  We need a subject that will be interesting if the image is to hold the viewer’s attention.  But not all images are about perfection.   The photo-artist may be going for the opposite effect, telling an anti-beauty story.  This may or may not have the desired effect on the viewer.

This macro image of a bee (?) is similar to some other images we have seen recently.  It appears to have been shot using a small flash unit which has given the insect a metallic look.  The translucent wings are nicely separated from the background.

The photographer may wish to consider the following suggestions.  The insect has been photographed almost directly from the top.  Giving it a very flat two dimensional look.  Perhaps a more dramatic angle would be more interesting to the viewer.  The photographer may wish to consider using a background with texture and patterns, to give a feeling of nature.  The solid black is too much like a photograph of a lab specimen.  Flash on a macro shot seldom works well.  It flattens out the subject and gives a very unnatural look to the image.

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                                                                    What is meant by the abstract term vision?  It’s the ability to see the end result of a project before completion.  One of the hallmarks of a good photographer is to be able to visualize what their image will look like before they even look through the view finder.  Seeing in your mind what the end result will be relies on ability and planning not luck. 

This photographer very carefully prepares plans and pre-visualizes each project.  They know what they want the end result to be before the camera is turned on.  This string of crystal beads falling through space has been captured at instant where the photo-artist intended.  She appears to have used a painting or a flowered print as the backdrop to produce the manifestations in the water.

The photographer may wish to consider narrowing the image to remove some of the background.  The hibiscus in the droplets is much more interesting than the one in the background.  The muted colors of the print flower may be giving the illusion that the photograph is over exposed, which it is not.

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Flowers are difficult to photograph because we have all seen so many of them represented in images over the years.  Many if not most are just record shots of nature’s beauties.  It takes the eye of an artist to interpret the flower and show it to us in a new way. 

This ball of glowing color and light tells us that this photo-artist has seen beyond the pretty flower into the heart of the subject.  The photograph was taken up close cropping out the environment and getting to the lines and colors displayed within the subject.  The inner illumination radiates light like a fire within a smoldering volcano.  Notice the cant of the axis of the compostion; about twenty dagrees off the horixontal, this adds addtional interest to the layout.

This image would be eye catching at any size form a postage stamp to a wall size poster.  It is color and simplicity that sets this composition apart.

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You don’t have to believe in psychics and UFOs, or take LSD to see hidden worlds.  They can be found all around us though the camera lens.  Our limited human sensibilities do not allow us to comprehend many everyday occurrences.  But with the camera we can capture a micro second or lengthen an hour to fill the clock.  All it takes is a little knowledge and a lot of imagination.

There is nothing like high speed photography to give us wonder, nothing like high speed images to let us see things we were never aware of before.  This remarkable illustration of a drop of liquid frozen in time and space tells us we have much to learn.  The timing and composition of this photograph are remarkable.  This macro shot taken at ultra high speed was able to capture the subject in perfect focus and composition.

The subject is located in the one third - two thirds sweet spot, with lighting that adds amber color to the surface.  The liquid surface is like undulating clear plastic with a suspended world levitated above it which reflects the environment around it through this transposed prism.  I like the use of the cropped edge of the rippled surface on the left side of the frame; this adds tension to the composition.

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The first moment I opened this photograph I thought I was looking at another Slot Canyon image.  The semi black background and the shades of yellow, gold and red umber replicate the scenes we have seen and taken in the canyons of Arizona.  But NO!  This is a macro of flower pedals.

I keep saying the photographing of flowers requires interpretation by the artist in order to take us out of the ordinary.  Well, here we have interpretation with imagination.  The photographer has made this image his own.

What I am amazed by is the amount of focus detail that was captured with this macro photograph.  The depth of field is remarkable for this amount of magnification.  The subject appears to glow from within. You will also note that the background is not pure black but rather has a glow that appears to be coming off the subject.

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You have an interesting view of this leaf pattern.  I like the concept.  The color and gradation of color is what is most striking.  The edge lighting adds a nice accent to the subject on this black background.  Normally I like to stay away from solid black backgrounds but in this case with the extreme colors I think it works. 

I do have a problem with the fiber optic stem entering the image.  It is too intense a light and draws us away form the subject.  There is no color to work with in this area so you may have some difficulty changing the brightness and making it look natural in your photo manipulation software.  A better solution may have been to put something between the light source and the stem at the time you composed this concept. 

I would also recommend rotating the image ninety degrees and removing some of the background.  By rotating you will change the perspective form looking down into the subject to looking up at the subject.  It has the looks of a kite.

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